Public sewer customers across Lehigh County have been saddled with increased rates in recent years to help fund more than $25 million in improvements to aging and leaky sewer systems carrying waste to Allentown's treatment plant.

That work is far from over, and the price tag for it is expected to continue soaring.

Nearly five years ago, Lehigh County Authority and various municipalities were ordered by the federal government to end stream-polluting sewage overflows originating from sewer lines and manholes in municipalities from Lynn Township to Allentown.

Officials in those communities acknowledge that goal will not be met by a Dec. 31 deadline.

Lehigh County Authority and various municipalities will ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to extend the deadline of that order, which calls for stiff penalties for violations of the mandate.

Those agencies have scheduled a 6:30 p.m. meeting Nov. 13 at the Lehigh County Government Center, 17 S. Seventh St., Allentown, to discuss the progress of the sewage overflow prevention work and the impending extension request. The agency estimates that about $35 million more will be needed to meet EPA's requirements.

An EPA official said it's too early to say whether that extension would be granted. The federal order calls for $37,500 per day in civil penalties and $50,000 daily for criminal violations.

The EPA order mandates an end to common overflows that typically occur after heavy rainstorms. That rain water infiltrates sewer pipes, bloating the system and leading to overflows, which at times have run into waterways such as the Little Lehigh Creek.

A 2010 Morning Call review of state and federal records found that more than 33 million gallons of raw sewage entered the Little Lehigh from 1999 to 2008. More recent records show that sewage overflows have continued over the past five years.

EPA order

The municipalities named in the order are required to address problems with their individual sewage collection systems. Lehigh County Authority was ordered to address its sewage collection system, known as the western Lehigh Interceptor, which runs from western Lehigh County to Allentown. The system takes in sewage from multiple communities and carries it to Allentown's treatment plant. Lehigh County Authority also owns and operates systems in Upper Milford and Weisenberg townships.

Not everyone is on board with asking EPA for more time. Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority, one of more than a dozen authorities or municipalities named in the order, says it won't be joining the others in asking for more time to repair leak sewer pipes, faulty manholes and otherwise take steps to prevent storm water from infiltrating the sewer system. The authority already has spent $14 million to replace piping along its Jordan Creek and Coplay Creek interceptors.

Joseph Marx, who sits on the Coplay-Whitehall board, said his board will ask that it be released from the order altogether.

"We took [the EPA] very seriously and tried to work very hard," Marx added. "It's our belief that some weren't as proactive and now, in the 11th hour, it seems like our pants are on fire and we have to get this done."

Marx also said he thinks the joint extension request is a backdoor attempt to force independent authorities like Coplay-Whitehall to regionalize.

"We're strongly opposed to that," Marx said of the extension request. "We feel they're using the group as a tool to justify regionalization.

Mike Siegel, a Lower Macungie Township resident and Lehigh County Authority customer, already has made his feelings known to EPA in a 2013 letter.

"No way," he said when asked if more time should be granted. "My whole point is, just because they're taking water infiltration] out of the system, they're replacing that as they can with new development. They're into solving the overall problem with [sewage] overloads."

He said the only solution is building a new pipeline to transport the sewage.

"How many times do we have to have [repair work] before we say we're wasting money, let's put in a new [pipeline]?"

Extension request

It seems unlikely the EPA will rule on the extension request before the end of this year.

Michelle Price-Fay, an EPA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System enforcement chief, said the EPA has not received any official requests from the authorities and municipalities named in the order. If those requests come, she said, she wouldn't anticipate a response before Dec. 31. She added that EPA's response would depend on what the requests are and what information is provided.

Asked about the progress that has been made in eliminating sewage overflows, Price-Fay said it's too early to say.

"We're not at the deadline yet," she said.

EPA officials have repeatedly said they would judge adherence to the order by looking at work done collectively by municipalities and sewer authorities, rather than judging them individually.

"I guess you might ask if the order addresses what criteria EPA will use to determine compliance by each [municipality]," Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano wrote in an emailed response to Morning Call questions. "The answer is none. There is no concrete criteria delineated in the order that would be able to distinguish whether they would give, say, Salisbury the thumbs up and other municipalities the thumbs down."

Most named in the EPA are joining Lehigh County Authority in requesting the extension. They include Alburtis, Allentown, Emmaus, Macungie, and Hanover, Lower Macungie, Lowhill, Salisbury, Upper Macungie, Upper Milford and Weisenberg townships.

Officials from South Whitehall Township, the only other municipality named in the order, did not return a phone message or email seeking comment on the township's position.

The EPA says sewage overflows across the country pose one of the greatest threats to oceans, streams, rivers and lakes, which provide food and drinking water, and support recreation and local economies. Raw sewage can carry bacteria and viruses that can cause illnesses from mild stomach cramps to life-threatening diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, the agency says.

The EPA cites a 1994 survey of sewerage agencies nationwide that showed 65 percent had sewer overflows caused by wet weather and that 15 percent to 35 percent of their sewers were filled to capacity during major storms.

Locally, it's a scenario that repeated itself over and over in Allentown and across western Lehigh County for years, threatening drinking water sources.

Judging progress

For nearly five years, sewer authorities and municipalities have been replacing and repairing leaky manholes, investigating ways to reduce water infiltration and cracking down on illegal connections to the sewer system from roofs and basements.

Among the bodies that raised rates between 2010 and 2013 were Allentown, Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority, Emmaus, Lower Macungie and Upper Macungie.

Officials have acknowledged that they likely won't be able to guarantee that 100 percent of the overflows will be eliminated even with all of the work being done.

A portion of Lehigh County Authority's communications plan related to the EPA order says that "the work is never truly 'complete,' as systems age and new [sewer line problems] are discovered." It says the work needed is considered a "long-term project" that will require "significant investment" in the future.

Jon Capacasa, director of the EPA Mid-Atlantic Region's water protection division, said last year that his agency uses "a lot of discretion' when addressing violations of its orders. He acknowledged that while the EPA expects sewer overflows to be eliminated that it may be difficult to eliminate them in all conditions. He said an extraordinary event such as a hurricane may create extenuating circumstances.

EPA officials have said they are judging the success of the efforts by analyzing the collective work done by all of the agencies and have consistently said they are not determining compliance on a municipality-by-municipality basis.

"We feel we should be judged on our own merits," Marx said. "It's going to be more beneficial if EPA looks at us as a sole enterprise."

Dan Olpere, Upper Macungie's new manger, said the township's facilities manager has indicated that the township has made "tremendous strides" in controlling inflow and infiltration.

He believes that the township has done much more than some municipalities, but said DEP is looking at the totality of the improvements.

"Everyone will benefit" from the deadline extension, he said.

Macungie Manager Chris Boehm said her borough wants to continue making sewer system improvements at a rate that residents can afford.

"That is why we need more time," she said. "I don't know how much time they will give us, but we continue to work toward [meeting the order.]"